6/23/2010 @ 12:00PM

Slimmer Loss Just What The Doctor Ordered For Rite Aid

Rite Aid
impressed investors by topping the Street’s earnings expectations Wednesday, even though the company still recorded a loss.

The company’s reported a first-quarter loss of $73.7 million, or 9 cents per share, an improvement from the $98.4 million, or 11 cents per share, loss it recoded in last year’s corresponding period. The company said a drop in selling, general and administrative expenses, and lower charges related to store closings helped decrease the red ink. Wall Street expected a loss of 14 cents per share.

Sales for the drugstore chain slipped 1.5% to $6.4 billion, from $6.5 billion, in line with the Street’s estimates.
Rite Aid
credited the decrease to store closings and a 1% decline in same-store sales, composed of a 1.3% decrease in the front end and 0.9% slide in the pharmacy. The number of prescriptions filled in same-stores decreased 1.7%.

We accomplished a lot in the first quarter,” said
Mary
Sammons
Mary Sammons
, Rite Aid’s chief executive, noting that the chain’s liquidity position remained strong, “which is critically important if the economy continues to be slow to recover.